A close friend of mine has informed me that she has a considerable amount of savings in her bank account with about seven weeks remaining on their current contract.This person is not sure what form(s) of retrieval is(are) worth considering. I know from my own experience you take a 'hit' on wire transfers. I'm thinking that no ONE method is sufficient to retrieve the large amount of savings. They may have to do a wire transfer and accept the 'hit' and follow this up with a number of T/Cs(25-30)- sending some of these T/Cs home prior to leaving.

What advice and/or suggestions can you provide regarding this money matter? In case you're wondering , the current amount my friend has accumulated is W53.7million. Help my friend break it down into easy managable steps before she BREAKS DOWN.

But seriously, just send the wire transfer. I can't think of another way she could more carefully do it.

FYI: The bank cashier's checks don't always work back home. Something about the numbers at the bottom being different, etc. My former coworker spent over a month trying to save a few dollars by mailing a bank cashier's check to her bank back home. She thought she got it right the second time, but she was wrong.

indeed. how do you send travellers cheques home? i spent 2 years as a cashier in a bank and to accept t/cs into a bank account the cheques had to be signed in front of the cashier. i.e. we could not accept pre-signed cheques. therefore, presuming the rules for accepting travellers cheques are the same from bank to bank, how do you do it?

All right. I'm not a cashier at a bank and never have been, but here's what I've been doing (and so have other friends in Korea) for over 2 years. If it doesn't work for you, I'm sorry--it's just that it has work well for me and others.

Go to the bank in Korea
flash my passport, hand over my won, ask for American t/c
go over to the counter and sign on both places, write the date in, write "for deposit only"
on the back: "for deposit only, name of bank, account #"

I mail them off to my folks, who in turn, take them to the bank and deposit them with a deposit slip.

Never a problem, but if you care to, why not ask your home bank if they will accept traveler's checks this way? Always better safe than sorry!

I think one reason it works is because you are depositing the money (by t/c) into YOUR account. When you write "for deposit only" and a specific account number, it's not a "loose t/c." No one can cash it. It's signed by you, written to be deposited into your account. Anyway, that's my thought. Again, just ask your bank.

Other ideas on this board include wiring money home (I don't like to pay the fee!), or getting an international ATM card and send one of them (get 2!) to a family member/friend back home, who can take care of the $ on that end. There's a whole thread on that, if you care to do a search.

indeed. how do you send travellers cheques home? i spent 2 years as a cashier in a bank and to accept t/cs into a bank account the cheques had to be signed in front of the cashier. i.e. we could not accept pre-signed cheques. therefore, presuming the rules for accepting travellers cheques are the same from bank to bank, how do you do it?

well i've done it.. mailed it directly to the bank from korea. Also paid credit card bills the same way.

as for rich 53 million won girl, can't offer any advice there. I think she should just take the hit.

The monetary value quoted in my original post is the amount my close friend saved over the past 34 months. It's all legitimate. It's what she has saved from her earnings over this time period. Has anyone tried to access their Korean bank account for withdrawal purposes AFTER their return to Canada? What would be the transaction fee for making a with
drawal?

I have a citi Bank account in Korea and withdraw the money in the account in Canada. Withdrawal processing fee is normally 2,000 won, regardless of withdrawal amount and the maximum cap for withdrawal is 500 or 600cdn per transaction.